It is common to use high performance electrical telecommunication transmission cable to connect computers, servers, printers, faxes, and other electronic equipment. Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable has been developed to meet the high data transmission speeds needed in modern Local Area Networks (LAN). Many LANs today use Category 5 cable, the performance requirements of which are defined by the Electronic Industries Association (EIA) standard TSB-36 for UTP cable.
As data transmission rates increase, to connect various pieces of electronic equipment, it frequently is necessary to route high speed data transmission cable throughout new or existing buildings. Great care is necessary when running UTP cable, as any kinking, sharp bends, or damage to the cable can cause undesirable side effects, such as creation of cross-talk or static between the various conductors.
In new buildings, cable trays are frequently installed. These make it easy to route cable throughout the building as the bend radius of the cables will conform to the bend radius of the trays, and can therefore be controlled. However, routing cable throughout an existing building presents many problems. Frequently, the cable must be routed through an area above a ceiling, such as a building having a drop ceiling. Cable trays are typically not available, and therefore hooks, rings, or similar devices must be used to create a suitable path for laying cable.
Several J-shaped hooks have been proposed for the support of communications cables. Although the prior art J-hooks provide a secure anchor for communications cables, they do not provide a balanced support and evenly distribute the weight of a suspended bundle of cables on the top stem. With a bundle of cables supported from the J-hook, a large bending moment or force is exerted on the stem. Therefore, a bundle of cables suspended in a J-hook may eventually cause the hook material to fatigue and break near the anchoring point, especially when anchored to structures that are susceptible to vibrations, such as air plenums and the like. The prior art J-hooks are also less than optimal when used to support several separate bundles of cables from the same anchoring point. The prior art J-hooks cannot be ganged directly to each other for holding multiple bundles of cables, but rather require the use of a specially designed bracket.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,676 (hereinafter the '676 patent) to Gretz, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, proposed a cable support having a box-shaped mounting assembly that allowed a cable support to be easily ganged directly to additional like cable supports without use of a separate bracket. This simplified the task of ganging cable supports and thereby eliminated the need to stock additional parts such as brackets.
Although the '676 patent provided a novel cable support which simplified ganging together of several supports, the cable support described therein could be further improved by stiffening the cable receiving portion of the support and also by providing an improved cable retaining arrangement for securing cables within the support.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,994 (hereinafter the '994 patent) to Laughlin is another cable support using, among other things, cable ties to confine a bundle of cables without contact between the cable and the tie and has a saddle with downturned obtuse angle lateral edges. It has been found that neither of these features is important and these features are not used in the present invention.
Therefore, what is needed is a balanced cable support capable of evenly distributing the weight of a suspended bundle of cables and capable of being ganged directly to additional supports for the support of large bundles of communications cables. The cable support should also have adequate stiffness to resist bending moments caused by the weight of suspended bundles of cables. Additionally, the cable support should include a cable retaining arrangement for keeping cable bundles secured within the support.